Never signed Agenda of Alliance with PDP: BJP leader

A lawmaker from Bharatiya Janata Party, Surinder Mohan Ambardar Thursday said his party never signed the Agenda of Alliance, a document that was publicised as the basis of its alliance with the Peoples Democratic Party in March 2015.

“We have never signed the Agenda of Alliance with PDP, and there is no proof of it,” Ambardar, a Kashmir Pandit and member of Legislative Council (MLC) said while addressing BJP rally here.

“PDP fooled the people of valley by making false claims of AoA.”

Following hectic negotiations with the BJP following the 2014 assembly elections, the PDP had announced that it had signed Agenda of Alliance with the Hindu nationalist saffron party for a coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir.

The AoA document, it was claimed called for called for creating “an environment of peace, certainty and stability” and facilitating “sustained and meaningful dialogue” with “political groups irrespective of their ideological views”, including the Hurriyat Conference.

Ambardar also claimed that PDP wanted Jama’at-e-Islami banned in Kashmir but BJP stalled the move during the coalition rule.

“Now it has been banned,” he said.

The BJP leader also claimed separatist leaders had lost their relevance and accused them of aiming to radicalize Kashmiri youth.

"Separatists, who consider themselves representatives of Kashmir, are inimical to development, peace and prosperity. Their ideology of radicalising young Kashmiris erodes our Kashmiri culture and points youths in the wrong direction," Ambardar said.

"The space occupied by separatists is shrinking and they have now almost become irrelevant. I don't think they are a stakeholder."

The BJP leader also said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government brought about a change of guard in the state.

"There has been a paradigm shift in people's perception. Earlier, the masses were disappointed but under the present government they are hopeful," Ambardar said.